Teaching some hard life lessons
Amazon Prime
EERIE opening title music, a slightly sinister wellness guru, enviable Scandi-looking furniture and nine perfectly messed-up guests.
This is the latest tantalising thrill ride from the team behind Big Little Lies, based on another of Liane Moriarty’s novels. And it’s absolutely captivating from the start.
It takes place at a boutique health and wellness retreat called Tranquillum House, which – like most of these places – seems to tread a fine line between a wonderful place of healing and creepy cult. It probably depends on your view of tailored-for-you smoothies and early morning yoga.
Nicole Kidman puts her ironed-out, ageless face and white blonde hair to perfect use here as Masha, the Russian retreat leader who is quite candid about the fact her guests must suffer in order to transform.
She is a former high-powered CEO who had a brush with death and decided to heal people.
An unbelievable wish-list cast makes up the nine guests – among them are Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Bobby Cannavale, Samara Weaving, Michael Shannon and Grace Van Patten.
All of them have plenty of emotional baggage and turn up generally angry, irritated and certainly not keen on handing over their phone and contraband wine or chocolate.
Masha and her team promise to put these nine stressed-out city dwellers on a path of better living, to be reinvigorated and reborn.
But the nine less-than-perfect strangers have no idea what is about to hit them – and Masha’s unorthodox techniques may push this group over the edge.
Enjoy the first three episodes today, followed by new episodes launched weekly.